The crux of the biscuit ...

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This is the key point that most commentators, and virtually all politicians, seem to overlook. Never mind the deal's content--as horrible as it appears to be--the simple fact that Republicans have been successful in extorting such concessions from the Democrats, who lest we forget, still form a majority in government, constitutes a catastrophic failure of democratic governance. [my em]

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Some call it extortion, I call it treason.